For Love and For Justice / Part 127 / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

The Honourable Judge Thomas J. Crabtree, Judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia is presiding in this case which is essentially the Ministry of Children and Family Development versus Paul and Zabeth Bayne.

By an order in council, effective February 15, 1999 Thomas J. Crabtree was appointed a Provincial Court judge. He graduated with a B.A. from the University of British Columbia and with an LL.B. from the Law School of Victoria University and was admitted to the Bar in 1984.

As a community member, in his practice of law, and in his judgement he has earned respect. He serves as a valued member of the Board of Directors of the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia.
The Board is appointed by the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria, the Law Society of BC, and the BC Branch of the Canadian Bar Association. This Society provides professional news, instruction, courses, and resources to the legal community in B.C.

Each lawyer before the court case began had himself answered basic questions like “What do I have to prove?” and “how do I prove it,” and the responses guided the preparation for the case. In Judge Crabtree’s court room, each lawyer, Finn Jensen and Doug Christie is seeking to ask questions of his witnesses in a way that is direct and non-leading. Each seeks to extract everything that a witness knows in his client’s favour. Each wants to present a clear, concise and credible body of evidence. Each lawyer is challenging the admissibility of certain of the opposing evidence. Each is cross examining as thoroughly as possible. From the mountain of trial transcript documentation Judge Crabtree must uncover that which best informs him for the course of action he must take in formulating his judgment.

I can convey my sentiments here with an emotional and relational slant. In fact I can hardly help myself. As readers of this post you read through a filter too, informed by your own impressions of the Ministry or the Baynes or the snatches of the family, medical, legal and social work data that you understand. Judge Crabtree is not listening to information with partiality, or looking at papers with a predisposition or reading blog posts with a bias like this one. We are trusting on this judge’s dispassionate and open-minded administration of justice. What an imposing and honourable obligation His Honour has.